Burning Castles

Did I mention all-you-can-eat bao?

Class Notes

Fighter – typically elite guards, seasoned officers, clan generals or warlords, that sort of thing. Fighter training is difficult to come by, as many of the Kingdoms do not have a strong military culture – excepting the Song, and to a lesser extent, the Zhou peoples. Inter-kingdom travel can be dangerous in the lean times, and as such caravan or body-guards can demand a decent wage.

Sorcerer – those that study the mystery of sponsored magic, power passed down through the ages from mythical patrons. Most sorcerers of real power (and reputation) have dragon, fae, or demon lineage. Sorcerers are more common than wizards, and are often heavily recruited by criminal organizations and military units. The kingdom of Shen has a military college that specializes in aerial combat and dimensional travel.

Rogues – the idea of someone who skirts and bends Heavenly law is distasteful to elven culture, but necessity has bore out the fruit of underground markets, spies, and information exchange when communication and cooperation break down between kingdoms and classes.

Rangers – seen as wardens of the land, rangers and druids are thought to share a “higher calling” (at least in comparison to non-spell casters) and are granted an extra measure of respect within most of the kingdoms for their close bond with nature. At the start of the game, there are no elven “urban rangers” – although there are some human ones.

Druids – see Rangers above.

Paladins – there are so few paladins, and inquisitors, in the Kingdoms, the stories give the impression that they’re always on some sort of important holy mission. With that in mind, when one is venturing about they are given a fair amount of discretion in their actions (more so paladins than inquisitors). Within their temples, Paladins have the duty to travel to areas troubled by malevolent spirits, devils, or necromancers, protect those harmed by the evil’s influence, and purge the blight from the land. Inquisitors usually do the scouting, or apply their talents to route out corruption otherwise hidden or difficult to access.

Monks – many legendary stories feature peerless monks bravely defending their temples, villages, and/or helpless peasants, all the while defeating huge monsters that one could expect to walk into any kingdom and find it overrun with monks. Monks hanging out in barber shops, monks shopping in the markets, monks playing dice in the streets, that sort of thing. There’s not that many of them, but their various temples do have sort of a fan following. In certain cities or kingdoms, being a monk comes with a sort of celebrity status, while in others it’s not a big deal at all. However, there’s an expectation that a monk walking through town invites some sort of duel or violence – often with a bunch of broken stalls, damaged houses, and the like it their wake.

Clerics – those who serve Heaven are the backbone of governmental authority, and everyone is clear on how important priests are to daily life and the functioning of the laws. Thankfully for all, the holy orders have not succumbed to corruptive influences – in part due to an active inquisitor presence – and as such clerics do not operate with impunity. “Good” clerics are treasures to their village, city, or homeland, for their benevolent representation to the Heavenly Council is benefiting the people as a whole.

Barbarians – there are two types of “barbarians”: there are tribes of humans who live on the outskirts of their own civilization, and an offshoot monk temple that – ages ago – broke off from the three schools of enlightenment and formed their own discipline. The former are not welcome in all the kingdoms, the later are thought of as strange, misguided, and perhaps a bit mad.

Wizards – the key to unlocking the magic of the world, going beyond the power of mortals and reaching into the essence of creation – and true immortality – while seemingly impossible to reach, still has dedicated people willing to try. Wizards, and their colleges, are respected for their sagely wisdom, but understood to be eccentric. For real, tangible, and immediate power, there are sorcerers; for those desperate to grasp at power and unlock the secrets themselves, those become wizards. Slightly outside contemporary life, wizards keep track of each other and share knowledge readily. Rare is it that a wizard, even an evil one, is shunned by other wizards – the value of wisdom gained is too high to sever such ties.